News Story of the Day

By Janice Park, October 16, 2018, WUSA9

WASHINGTON -- The Archdiocese of Washington released a list Monday of 31 priests. It names priests involved in cases with credible accusations of abuse.

By Andrea Swalec, October 15, 2018, NBC Washington

The Archdiocese of Washington has released the names of 28 former members of clergy who they say were "credibly accused of sexual abuse of minors" dating back as far as 1948.

By MARCI A. HAMILTON, October 13, 2018

The 2018 Pennsylvania Attorney General’s grand jury report on the six Pennsylvania dioceses not yet investigated for clergy sex abuse looked like it could move mountains at first. The account of over 300 priests and over 1000 victims certainly has garnered worldwide attention and empathy for the victims and their families. Republican leadership, however, with few days left in the legislative calendar has proved incapable of such empathy.

Instead, Senators Scarnati and Corman have produced a cynical “tribunal” that gives bishops and insurance companies what they love most: immunity from discovery. This is faux justice is an insult to every survivor in the state. It is also every child-molesting cleric’s best friend as it keeps their wrongdoing secret and every enabling institution’s best friend as it keeps their wrongdoing secret.

By Ivey DeJesus, October 10, 2018, PennLive

With time running out on the legislative clock, victims and advocates of child sexual abuse are ramping up efforts to pressure state Senate Republicans to approve a measure that would give adults who were abused as children an opportunity at justice.

A few weeks ago, a tide of optimism buoyed survivors and advocates with expectations that reforms would finally see the light of day. Late this week, those hopes may have been dealt a lethal blow.

October 12, 2018, Bay City News Service, SF Gate

OAKLAND (BCN) -- Survivors of sexual abuse at the hands of the Catholic Church, alongside a former member of the clergy, held a news conference this afternoon outside the Oakland Diocese to "out" who one survivor says is a "predator priest." 

Joey Piscitelli, Northern California leader for Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said he was repeatedly molested by Father Stephen Whelan in 1969 and 1970 - when Piscitelli was just 14. . 

By BRIAN CLITES, OCTOBER 11, 2018, Salon 

Widespread public shock followed the recent release of the Pennsylvania grand jury report that identified more than 1,000 child victims of clergy sexual abuse. In fact, as I know through my research, the Vatican and its American bishops have known about the problem of priestly pedophilia since at least the 1950s. And the Church has consistently silenced would-be whistleblowers from within its own ranks.

In the memory of many Americans, the only comparable scandal was in Massachusetts, where, in 2002, the Boston Globe published more than 600 articles about abuses under the administration of Cardinal Bernard Law. That investigation was immortalized in the 2015 award-winning film, “Spotlight.”

What many Americans don’t remember, however, are other similar scandals, some even more dramatic and national in scope.

On October 10, bishops from dioceses throughout Texas announced that they would be releasing lists of names of priests credibly accused of sexual abuse. Houston SNAP leader and SNAP board member Michael Norris went on The Isiah Factor to discuss this news with FOX 26 Houston's Isiah Carey.

By By JUSTIN DENNIS, October 9, 2018, The Vindicator

YOUNGSTOWN -- A group representing Catholic Church sex-abuse victims is urging state and county prosecutors to launch a grand-jury-style investigation into dioceses in Youngstown as well as the rest of Ohio – similar to Pennsylvania’s recent report that exposed hundreds of priests.

But prosecutors said it’s not that easy – without criminal allegations from abuse victims at the county level, there are no grounds for an inquiry.

By Sheila Vilvens and Jessie Balmert, October 8, 2018, Cincinnati Enquirer

It's time for Ohio to investigate sex crimes by Catholic Church clergy. That was the message from advocates holding protests and press conferences around Ohio. 

A group called SNAP, short for the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, held a news conference at 1 p.m. Monday in front of Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine's Cincinnati office. Three SNAP protestors showed up holding pictures of children from around the country who say they were abused.